Once upon a time an academic scientist went to visit a Zen…

When her hands reached out and poured the tea, it was as if she also poured something into me while I sat there sweating…

— Markus Zusak

“She smiled as she poured tea into his cup. “I hope you find your rooms comfortable?” “Quite.” He took a too-hasty sip of tea…

— Elizabeth Hoyt

“She brought the tea into the living room on a lacquered tray. The pot and cups were Japanese with unglazed rims. She poured. "Thanks," I said. "Well?" "Huh?" "Your family," she reminded. I sipped the tea. "This is really good. Really delicious." She raised her eyebrows. "That's what I thought. You're a good listener, Davy, and you can change the subject on a dime. You've hardly talked about yourself at all." "I talk... too much." "You talk about books, you talk about plays, you talk about movies, you talk about places, you talk about food, you talk about current events. You don't talk about yourself." I opened my mouth, then shut it again. I hadn't really thought about it. Sure, I didn't talk about the jumping, but the rest? "Well, there's not much to say. Not like those stories of growing up with four brothers." She smiled. "It's not going to work. If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. But I'm not going to be distracted again, nor fooled into talking about those idiots again." She poured more tea into my cup. I frowned. "Do I really do that?" "What? Not talk about yourself? Yes." "No, try and distract you." She stared at me. "You are fucking amazing. I've never seen someone so good at changing the subject." "I don't do it on purpose." She laughed. ”

— Steven Gould

“out and started again? Well, she hated cold tea, so she tipped it onto the grass, holding her breath. No complaint, so she began…

— Liz Fenwick

Papa sat down at the table and poured his tea from the china tea set with pink flowers on the edges. I waited for…

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“What silliness that we must consider the proper order of milk and tea when pouring a cup." Callie swallowed back a laugh. "I suppose…

— Sarah MacLean

If we had the consciousness of a cat or a dog, we would have it in us to become perfect Zen masters. We could…

— Eric Maisel

What are you, Zen Master Fang?

— Charlaine Harris

Fish sense, applied in the field, is what the old Zen masters would call enlightenment: simply the ability to see what's right there in…

— John Gierach

“He was, in his way, as close to a Zen master as I've ever had, and all of us who fell under his influence…

— Nora Ephron

We have been teaching together [with Kaz] now for more than twenty years in sesshins, in international travel programs in Japan and China, as…

— Joan Halifax

The majority of the ten thousand states of mind cannot be discussed. It is rather a question of teaching a person to step outside…

— Frederick Lenz

“Activities such as chanting, bowing, and sitting in zazen are not at all wasted, even when done merely formally, for even this superficial encounter…

— Francis Harold Cook

I seemed to recall some words from an old Zen master, something like, "My Zen cuts down mountains." My rejection of Buddhism was a…

— Quentin S. Crisp

I vow to live fully in each moment.

— Nhat Hanh